The Test Pilot!

 

I had such an amazing evening tonight!  I played Hooky from my astronomy club, and went to a presentation at a meeting of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics at a university nearby.  The speaker this evening was a test pilot who was in the US Air Force, and then was a test pilot for Lockheed Aircraft!  He mainly flew two famous stealth aircraft, the F-117 Nighthawk, and the F-22 Raptor.  Wow!  Can you imagine.  He was a wonderful speaker and talked about all the technical details of both aircraft, and his experiences in flying them.  I got to talk to him before and after the meeting and ask him some questions about aerodynamics, and about some other aircraft he flies now.

This is a slide he showed of the F-117 Nighthawk, which he is flying in this photo.  This aircraft doesn't even look like it could fly.  It is designed to reflect radar sweeps and thus make the aircraft nearly invisible.  In fact, this aircraft is unstable in all three axes, and could not fly if it was not for the four computer systems in the aircraft that keep it stable!

He brought a number of items that he passed around the room for us to see and touch.  This is one of the data sensors on the aircraft, that sticks out in front if the airplane and the tubes coming out the back of it send various air pressures to the computer that controls the plane.  The airplane would be uncontrollable if not for this device and the computers.  You can see three of these devices on the pointy nose of the airplane in the picture of the aircraft above.